PHILADELPHIA - The City Council approved limits to gun purchases with the promise to sue state lawmakers to enforce it, saying the city could no longer wait for the Legislature as the murder rate skyrockets.

Only state lawmakers can enact firearms laws in Pennsylvania. But with 137 homicides in Philadelphia so far this year, Councilman Darrell Clarke said the city had to do something.

"It's utterly ridiculous where we are right now. It's an aberration when somebody doesn't get killed," Clarke said. "We can't wait any longer."

The council approved measures Thursday that would limit gun purchases to one a month and require gun owners to promptly report lost or stolen firearms.

Clarke, who co-sponsored the bills with Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller, said the City Council would soon file a lawsuit against the General Assembly to give the city the authority to pass its own gun laws.

Philadelphia gun control "never had the votes to get out of committee, and that hasn't changed," said House Speaker Dennis O'Brien, a Republican.

The bills require Mayor John Street's approval, and he seems likely to sign them.

I was born there. Philly was a turd circling the drain 40 years ago. They have wallowed in bad and corrupt government for years. This is just one more nail in their coffin. No decent, honest person can live there and feel safe. Do they really think this idiocy will prevent those in the crack business from being well armed?

I have to love this kind of nonsense. The city sues the state, which will sue the feds, which will sue the UN, which will sue Iran, which will sue Israel, which will sue Germany, which will sue the moon, which will sue the stars, and on and on. And lawyers will take over the universe. SUE HEIL!

Of course, a cynic might say that if the politicians and the police in Philadelphia were not totally corrupt, they could solve their own problems by actually arresting some bad guys. But that might be dangerous, not to mention that the pols and cops might actually have to live on their salaries, something that is unknown in most cities.

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